Colorado coach miffed at Sounders’ playing facility

While the soccer world watched in captivation as Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in the European Champions League title game Wednesday, at least one Major League Soccer coach is wondering why U.S. soccer isn’t doing more to champion its own games.

Colorado Rapids coach Gary Smith expressed dismay after his team’s 1-0 loss to Seattle Sounders FC in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup play-in game as to why the match was held at the 4,000-seat Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila instead of Seattle’s Qwest Field.

Fans in Rome go wild as Barcelona celebrates following a goal by Lionel Messi on Wednesday. Barcelona will visit Qwest Field on Aug. 5. (AP photo)

That won’t be a problem when the Sounders host Barcelona, however, as that Aug. 5 exhibition will be played in front of 67,000 fans at Qwest Field.

Clearly the U.S. Open Cup is a far different story, despite Smith’s unhappiness. While the Open Cup is the longest-running soccer tournament in the U.S., dating back to 1914, it is conducted largely as a secondary event to the Major League Soccer regular season by teams involved in both.

MLS teams generally are using the Open Cup games to give playing time to their reserve players, given the event is squeezed between league games. Eight MLS teams are among the 40 professional and amateur squads at various levels that qualified for the U.S. tournament.

The Open Cup begins with first-round games on June 9. The Sounders and seven other MLS qualifiers are seeded through to third-round matches on June 30 after surviving two play-in rounds. Sounders FC has put in a bid to host its next game as well, but won’t know the outcome of that until after the second round concludes.

Smith felt Tuesday’s match should have at least been played on the better turf and atmosphere of Qwest Field and made his feelings known after the match.

“(The way) the whole system has been conducted has led us down a path that it was obvious the MLS league games are far more important to everybody in our league,” Smith said. “Why should we risk our best players when nobody actually sees this as an important competition?

“I come from an environment and culture where Cup games are part of the fabric as English football and European football. I think people at the top have demeaned this competition by playing it here for starters. Why don’t we play the games at Qwest? Why, when we offered up the facilities at our own turf, are we not there?

“I understand there was a coin flip that nobody saw, and strangely enough Seattle won the toss. The difference tonight is they are at home and maybe they are slightly more adept to playing on a plastic surface. They go through to the next round and good luck to them.”

Smith also didn’t like that the draw for the homefield for Tuesday’s game was conducted in privacy.

“Why can’t we promote the Cup in a more sensible fashion so everyone can get behind it?” he said. “There is a behind close door draw done and we end up here in a facility that is below par. We have seen two very good teams do battle on a below-par surface and facility.

“I don’t understand that with the strides the MLS and the league made in this country. Seattle has proved this week already what a good team they are. It doesn’t suit them either and I’m surprised.”

Sounders officials say the Starfire facility has the same FieldTurf surface as Qwest Field and note the stadium was used by the former Sounders USL squad for all its home matches last year. This year’s MLS Sounders use the Tukwila facility for most of their practice sessions.

As for the seating situation, Tuesday’s match drew a capacity crowd of 4,007, but tickets were still being sold right up until game time. The Sounders feel the atmosphere is better for smaller U.S. Open Cup matches at the more-intimate Starfire complex than if games were played in front of a largely empty Qwest Field, which seats about 28,000 for the Sounders’ MLS games when the upper deck is closed off.